Travel Agents and Millennials: How Should They Meet in the Middle?

There are travel agents who specialize in seniors and those who specialize in family travel. Lately, there is another growing segment of the travel industry that is garnering some special attention — millennials.

The Hyatt Centric The Loop Chicago opened its doors in downtown Chicago last April, touting itself as the first hotel to launch under Hyatt’s new lifestyle brand specifically for millennial explorers, typically born between 1980-2000. According to the accommodation’s release, the hotels are centrally located, and created for millennial-minded, leisure and business travelers seeking an authentic entryway to easily explore the destination.

“Millennials are traveling all the time,” said Sarah Nelson Wandrey, a Travel Leaders agent in Mesa, Arizona. “Just like with any traveler age group, you have some of them looking for budget options while some are looking for more luxurious opportunities. Over the past few years, I have seen more millennials willing to take longer trips to countries in South America or Asia. They are more often than not selecting to go with a group (like G Adventures or Contiki, for example) if they don’t already have traveling companions.”

The travel habits of millennials are also being closely studied. The Center for Responsible Travel (CREST) released its “Trends & Statistics 2016” report, demonstrating that the growth of responsible tourism continues to outpace growth of the tourism industry as a whole. In the report, it said that the percentage of consumers who are willing to pay more for sustainable brands that showed commitment to social and environmental values went up from 55 to 66 percent between 2014 and 2015. About 73 percent of the younger generations — Millennials and Generation Z — are more likely to pay more for sustainability, compared to 51 percent of Baby Boomers, according to Nielsen.

Millennial travel habits are reflecting the realities of how travelers are turning away from old school travel agents to mobile technologies. According to a PhoCusWright Global Edition report, 25 percent of all travel bookings in the U.S. were done via smartphones by 2015. In other words, millennials do not use travel agents as much as other travelers.

“Millennials, tech-savvy X and Y generations from around the world and modern consumers alike are using digital tools to jump across industry-defined silos,” said Alyssa Miron, senior account executive of PAN Communications. “They move seamlessly from tourism sites, such as destination marketing organizations (DMOs) and online travel agencies (OTAs), to tour operators to hotel and airline booking tools — without ever stopping to ask for directions. It’s the ultimate in hospitality ironies — with the ascent of the silent digital traveler, real human service and interactions fade in importance.”

According to the white paper, “5 Travel Trends Shaping the Future of the Digital Experience,” 39 percent of millennials source their travel via metasearch rather than traditional online travel agencies (OTAs) or brand site navigation. Reaching millennials to book travel packages needs to be done a little differently. “This means that travel brands must think beyond travel listings and factor in the need to communicate in a cultural context to deliver on global traveler expectations. Localizing search results — both internal and on engines such as Google and Yahoo — is one such way to deliver a more native experience to the consumer.”

However, Wandrey said that millennials still want to see a travel agent’s updated social media site and website. She also said that millennials, if they are traveling with friends or loved ones, more often than not opt for FIT (Free Independent Traveler) trips. “The fun and sun getaways are still popular for those who are looking for shorter time periods,” she said. “I have millennial travelers booked through the next 10 months who are traveling everywhere between Hawaii, Mexico, Southeast Asia, Peru, multi-country Europe trips and even Antarctica.”

When it comes to millennial travels, you can forget the traditional spring break beach vacations. “While many people think spring break is all about the beach, only 40 percent of domestic spring breakers and 21 percent of international spring breakers went to beach/warm locations this year,” said Danielle Dougan, public relations manager of Student Universe. “People, especially young people, appreciate and prefer experiential travel, having a unique experience rather than just going to the landmarks, experiencing a destination like a local, or seeking a secondary city as a destination.”

“Millennials are becoming a large consumer of travel,” said Nick Salmen at Remarkable Journeys, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. “As such, the market is offering a wider range of products to entice this large cohort of savvy consumers. Traditional offerings like cruises and all-inclusive are now complemented by modern offerings like biking tours, backpacking tours, and foreign independent travel packages.”

However, there is still one problem — millennials are short on cash, yet travel agents are still clamoring for their business. “College students are the first to buy the latest devices and software and are the first to sport the latest trends,” said Dougan. “As a result, they can provide invaluable feedback on new products and technologies. Amazon provides free Prime subscription to students. Apple offers students deep discounts on its products. But offering student discounts is not the only option you have. Could you offer better service? Better terms and conditions? A free trial? Whatever your differentiator for the student segment is, make sure it includes an incentive.”

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